Resident Evil 5 Port to Nintendo Wii Still Possible

After initially dismissing the possibly, Capcom is now leaving the door open for a possible port of Resident Evil 5 to the Nintendo Wii. The Resident Evil (known as Biohazard) series is one of the most recognizable in the gaming industry. It is single-handily responsible for the rise and continued evolution of the survivor-horror genre. The first game in the series was released on 1996 on the Playstation. It was followed by numerous ports and remakes.

This trend would be common in the Resident Evil series. Typically, a game would be released exclusively to one system. Capcom would then port it to others. Sometime, they even catch some flak for this kind of release method as fans of particular systems get angry at losing exclusive.

This was the case with Resident Evil 4. Capcom originally announced the game exclusively on the Gamecube. Despite some strong opposition from director Shinji Mikami, Capcom decided to ultimately port their critically-acclaimed title to the Playstation 2.

Capcom isn't shy about downgrading a game in order to port to a less powerful video game system either. The original Resident Evil was remade for the Nintendo DS, for example. Therefore, the possibility is still there for Capcom to release Resident Evil 5 on the Nintendo Wii.

In fact, they have already ported a high-definition game on to the Nintendo Wii. The Xbox 360 title, Dead Rising, headed to the Nintendo Wii in 2008. While the visuals got downgraded with less detail, the gameplay remained intact for the most part. Therefore, it is doable to bring the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 version of Resident Evil 5 onto the Nintendo Wii.

It wouldn't be easy, however. For one, Capcom need to build a new engine specifically for the Nintendo Wii as it isn't as powerful as the two high-definition systems. Furthermore, Capcom need to use the motion capabilities of the Wii Remote for the Resident Evil 5 port..

Fortunately, the template is already there for Capcom. Resident Evil 4: Wii edition was released on the Nintendo Wii in 2007. The port of the Gamecube title included the motion control scheme. The engine, which was built on the Gamecube, provided good enough visuals for the system. Capcom should be able to beef up the engine on the more powerful Nintendo Wii.

Finally, aside from the high-definition graphics and cooperative play, Resident Evil 5 isn't all that different from Resident Evil 4. With 50 million gamers on the Nintendo Wii, it would make sense for Capcom to keep the door open for a Nintendo Wii port of Resident Evil 5.